Friday, September 19, 2008

On blogging, the power of images and misbehaving


Here we are, now, entertain us.
In a comment to my last post, Matka wrote: Please, add a new piece soon! My internet explorer opens with your page and this work makes me seek [sick?] for a couple of hours.

Independent on whether this particular request should be executed or not, a serious issue creeps up behind: can we speak of a more or less bloggable material? Should we?
At first, there seems to be no doubt: a blog is personal by definition, right? The author decides what to put on it, and that's it?
Not quite.
1) Any reader of art blogs will notice blogs have formulas and tend to stick to them (this is not just the case of art blogs, obviously). So there is a topic, an approach, a way of writing and really, a "strategy". This can be a personal strategy, but it remains one.
2) In the case of art blogs, strong images work. That is, if you're looking for an audience, don't spend so much time writing: find attractive images. They can be shocking, but they have to be instantly rewarding for the spectator. And that's disgusting, dear Matka.
There's the rub: A blog is like a light version of a magazine. You drop by, take a glance, and in case of picture-filled blogs, if the image is not appealing, you move along. I see it in the stats, I know it (mea culpa) from autopsy. An art blog is, to a great extent, a mini-gallery. To a neophyte observer it might seem like people only take a glance and then leave. But after all, isn't it about those few that stay a while and dwelve deeper?

It's nice to be visited. And appreciated. And the more popular you are, the more, humm, popular you are.
The point is, it influences the choices you make. And all of a sudden, you know what sort of images work on the blog. And those are the ones you choose. Fast art consumption. It's nice, it's clean, we get it. Good, effective art.
Then the next step might be thinking about not offending Matka's tastes. And that's scary if you write a blog, (a personal page). But then, even if you don't go that far, the blog, the site, gains a life of its own. And thenyou start listening in on what it wants.

Come to think of it, it's not necessarily horrible. After all, it's also the wonderful feeling of an object coming to life, gaining an identity. Indeed, in the case of this blog this life has been continuing even during my absences. And that's a beautiful sight.
Yet it is still mine. Heheh...
And hopefuly, the lapse in Matka's text did make sense: beyond making her sick, the image also makes her seek for a couple of hours.
And in case it doesn't, here are a couple of replacement images. If anyone here can handle Japanese, please go here or here and let me know who is the artist, and what is going on, these sites seem creepy as hell...

O, that this too too solid flesh would melt
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

The name of the artist is Mari Shimizu.
Weird, on the verge of cheap pop art and mystics. Like a folk pray and very 'Japaneese'
Matka

Hayley Cafarella said...

interesting images are definitely what gets my attention when blog surfing!

Sílvia said...

I do read blogs as long as it is not a lot of bla bla lab bal.
I'm mostly interested in the poetics of how people post whatever they post in a not so random sequence.
I think this sequence and its timing tell me a little bit about a character, the virtual person that is the blogger.
bj

Bobby said...

I've found your posts very interesting but sometimes the text is too long (something I've found with my blog too - I guess we like to rant) but the images, if they capture the initial attention, will definitely motivate me to read on.

These dolls are so strange, they do remind me of NZ artist Judy Darragh's kitsch art pieces, especially the ones that use a body cavity (http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/TePapa/English/Galleries/SampleShow/JudyDarragh/VisibleWoman.htm)

Such careful crafting in those pieces, the artist must have been deeply thinking. I wonder if it is within our rights to force an interpretation onto them.

Anonymous said...

i love art!!
watch an interesting artist on: http://ladym1.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Where are the art critics? anything goes in the world of Art these days. Is there no discriminating eye to let us know what is real, in good or bad taste? why do we have to put up with anything and everything that shows up on the internet or on galleries, who can say "the emperor has no clothes?
http://www.art-gallery-at-night.blogspot.com/

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Anonymous said...

The question is : are we writing a blog to show images that will catch people's attention, or are we trying to write art critic that may be different from what you may read elsewhere, more engaged, more personal, more about structuring emotions, about moving people in all senses of the word ? And if it is the latter, then, what are the images that will support this ?
The posts on my blog that have been the most read are more often popular because of the text than about the images : my own record, more than 10 000 readers, is about the Picasso and the Masters exhibition in the Grand Palais : no eye-catching picture there (the opening one is Yo Picasso !), nothing that you might not have seen elsewhere, but a title saying 'the most frustrating exhibition of the year': THIS draws crowds !
http://lunettesrouges.blog.lemonde.fr/2008/10/27/lexpo-la-plus-frustrante-de-lannee/

Anonymous said...

I really do read blogs and I'm interested in arts or humanities, I like the fact that people express their opinion freely about this topics, reading the articles and the comments made me realized all the time that, we people have different level of interpretation and understanding about anything.But what ever it is, I just simply love arts:-)

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Anonymous said...

very interesting piece. thanks for sharing. i will look around the blog more. you can check one of ours out at http://beautyartandlifemovement.org

Anonymous said...

Blog is exceptional only forward! We wish you all the best in the future and thus be exceptional!

Sincerely,
Darko
Serbia
www.artgalerija.net

gallerysales said...

Got to agree with "collector"but i will put it simpler than that,its rubbish.

Julia Mark said...

I appreciate your musings on art blogging. I agree that with art blogging it's the images that really get people interested, because I don't really read the text unless the image is interesting.

Pop Art Gallery said...

Interesting and useful information regarding the 'nature' (I guess) of art blogs and blogs in general. Whenever anything one creates (whether it be a piece of visual art, a book, etc.) takes on a life of its own, that means that it has the attention and efforts of others who are, unwittingly or not, keeping it alive.

Salih Cengiz said...

I was very impressed by the story and works.

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